Yes on 1: Legalize prosperity

To the Editor:

With patients reporting positive reactions from the medical use of marijuana — from veterans with PTSD to cancer patients who cannot eat — Mainers should allow patients and doctors to be able to determine the best treatments and have ready access to marijuana, without fear of committing a crime.

Many Mainers can’t access medical marijuana. They either do not have one of the few qualifying conditions or cannot afford a $300-per-year doctor’s recommendation.

If marijuana were legal for private, adult use, we could control and regulate it, rather than allowing criminals to control its distribution and quality. We could create a new industry in a state that does not have a vibrant economy, with a supply chain of garden stores, merchants, growers, testing labs, warehouses, delivery services, and more. We know we can do it, because Maine’s has been called one of the nation’s best run dispensary systems in the country.